Floor furnace



11111613, 1939- B. F. STEPHENS 2,162,410

' H.003 FURNACE I Filed Dec 24, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 41 June 13, 1939. B.F. STEPHENS 2,

FLOOR FURNACE v Fil ed Dec. 24, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PM June is, 1939UNITED STATES PATENT ,OFFlCE noon. FURNACE Benjamin F. Stephens, Tulsa,Okla.

Application December 24, 1937, Serial No. 181,555

a claims. (c1. 126-116) This invention relates in general to furnaces,

and while the principles thereof may be embodied in furnaces of variouscharacters, the particular here disclosed as illustrative of my 6inventlonis whatiscmnmercially known as a floor furnace of the gasburning type.

In localities where intensely cold temperatures prevail onlyinfrequently many residences, particularly of the cheaper type, are notprovided 10 with cuts or with steam or hot-water heating equipment. nthe contrary, floor furnaces oi the hot air type are utilized which setbelow the floor level of the house and are customarily suspended fromthe floor joists. To accommo- 15 date such a furnace, it is usuallynecessary to excavate a shallow hol below the ground level beneath thehouse into which the lower end of the furnace extends, a

Great diiliculty and inconvenience is occam sinned, however, with this.type of installation when, as a result of a heavy rainfall, water col-.-

lects in the hole into which the furnace extends, since such water flowsinto the, open lower end of the furnace casing submerging the burnersand 25 the flame. Furthermore, the fuel gas escaping from theextinguished burners accumulates in the combustion chamber and theflues, and when an attempt is made to light the burner with a torch orflame, serious explosions 30 and fires are frequently caused.

' One of the primary purposes of my present invention is to provide afurnace of the floor type which will be hermetically sealed. to a heightwell above the groundline so that any water accumua lating in theexcavation into which the furnace extends will be precluded fromentering the furnace casing and extinguishing or in any way interferlngwith the operation of the burners.

Another object of my invention is to provide 49 a furnace which wili behighly eflicient in operationso as to utilize for heating purposes themaximum number of heat units liberated by the burner. with this end inview, my invention contmnplates a furnace in which the products of 45combustion are caused to travel in a tortuous path from the combustionchamber to the stack flue so as to enable the delivery of a maximumnumber of heat units therefrom to-the surrounding circulating air to beutilized for heating purposes.

50 Other objects and many of the inherent advantages of my inventionshould be readily appreeluted as at same becomes"better understood byreference to the following description when considered in connectionwith the accompanying Referring to the drawings:.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal, vertical sectional view through a furnaceconstructed in accordance with my invention;

. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the 5 staggered line2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a vertical, transverse sectional view on the staggered line3--3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view, partially broken away, of the main portionof, my furnace structure with the casing removed.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, reference character 5indicates a casing of rectangular shape formed of sheet metal or othersuitable impervious material adapted to be introduced through an opening6 in a floor 1 and suspended in operative position, as illustrated,between the floor joists 8 to which, if desirable, it may be anchored byscrews or other fastening means. The vertical portion of thecasing'icomprises the sidewalls! and II and-the end walls I! and I3sealed at their joints to prevent water leakage therethrough, and thelower end of the casing is closed by a bottom I also sealed to the sideand end walls so as to provide. a water tight casing structure.

Within the casing there is disposed an elongated, preferablyrectangular, combustion chamber [I comprising the end walls I8 and I1restin upon the bottom ll, the side walls II and IS, the

bottom II, and the top 12. The side walls comprise the inclined portions23 and 24 which narrow the upper portion of the combustion chamber sothat the upper walls of this portion are offset inwardly with respect tothe side walls of the lower portions. The top wall 22 is provided withan opening II normally closed'by a removable cap 7 26 through whichaccess to the interior of the combustion chamber for the purpose ofigniting the pilot burners with a torch or the like may be 40 had. Thebottom 2| is provided with elongated openings 21 in proximity to theburner,.to be 4 later described, andthe space beneath and between theseopenings is enclosed by a depressed wall a providing an air passage 2|for the supply of air to the burner; This passage, as will be apparentfrom'Flgs. 2 and 4, is extended laterally beyond each side wall of thecombustion chamber to form a closed conduit having upwardly openingnipples II for connection with conduits u I! which extend upwardly asubstantial distance above the casing bottom and, in the form shown,

atflleast one-half the-height of the casing where they open toatmosphere throughopenings 33 formed in the side walls of the casing.plurality u of the combustion chamber i5.

of air supply conduits is thereby provided for conducting air from alevel considerably, above the ground line outside the casing to thevicinity of the burners for combustion purposes.

The burners 34 are carried by a suitable manifold I! mounted in thebottom wall of the combustion chamber, as shown in Fig. l, and gas orother fuel is supplied to these burners through a pipe 36 equipped witha control and shut-off valve 31 adapted to be manipulated from a pointin proximity to the floor level by 'a suitable rod II. One or more pilotburners 39 are mounted in proximity to the main burners, the pilotburners receiving their fuel supply through a pipe ll also equipped witha shut-off and control valve 42 operable through a rod similar to rod18.

The products of combustion rising from the burners flow from thecombustion chamber through openings 43 and H at the top and near eachend of the chamber. For the purpose of retarding the escape of theproducts of combustion so that more heat units may be given oif, theupper portion of the combustion chamber is equipped with a pair oftransversely disposed, downwardly inclined baiiies 45 and 16 aroundwhich the products of combustion escape, as indicated by the arrows inFig. 1. From the openings 43 and 44 the products of combustion enter-apair of transversely extending flue'passages I! and ll, respectively,both of which communicate at their outer ends with heating chambers 4|and ii disposed laterally of, parallel with, and spaced from the narrowupper portion- At their'rear ends these chambers communicate with anoutlet box "through the passages I3 and 54, respectively, the outlet boxbeing centrally connected with a stack flue II. For the purpose offurther retarding the direct escape of the products of combustion and.thereby augmenting the delivery of heat units from these products, theheating chambers are provided with the downwardly inclined walls orbaiiles 58 and 51, respectively, which cause the products issuing fromthe flue 4| to flow to the forward ends of the respective heatingchambers and then down and back to the discharge passages 53 and II.During the travel of the products of combustion around the baiiies I5and 46, through the flues l1 and 40, and through the heating chambers 40and ii and around the bailies therein, ample opportunity is afforded forthe delivery of heat units from the products'of combustion to thesurrounding air which carries the heat units upwardly from the furnaceinto the'dwelling. It'will be observed that the spacing of the heatingchambers from the upper portions of the combustion chamber providespassages between these chambers through which the air beportion of shellI is of truncated form, as indicated at 88, to direct the heated aircentrally upwardly through the usual grill or grating 64,

while the cold air-along the floor of the building is drawn downwardlythrough the outer margin of the grill into the down-draft passage 58 atthe bottom of which it turns inwardly and upwardly to be heated by thecombustion and heating chambers and delivered from the furnace back intothe building.

From the foregoing it should be manifest that I have provided a furnacewhich is very efficient 'the burner becoming submerged and extinguishedby any seepage or flow of water into the excavation. Since the airintake openings 33 are always located well above the ground line, the

possibility of flame extinguishment and the danger. of explosions andfires resulting therefrom,

all occasioned by the presence of water inthe furnace casing, areentirely eliminated by my invention.

While I have shown and described for illustrative purposes thatembodiment of my invention which at present seems preferable, it shouldbe understood that the structural details disclosed may be varied withinwide limits without .departing from the essence of my invention asdeflned in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A furnace comprising a casing composed of side walls and a closedbottom, a combustion chamber located therein, a burner in saidcombustion chamber, a partition wail dividing the space between thecombustion chamber and the casing into a cold air down-draft passage anda hot air up-draft passage, means for conducting the products ofcombustion from said chamber in a tortuous path surrounded by saidpartition to a delivery point outside of said casing, a combustion airinlet opening in said casing located a substantial distance above thelevel of said burner, and conduit means for conducting air from said airinlet opening to said combustion chamber, said casing below the inletofsaid conduit being sealed to preclude the entrance of water thereinto.

2. A furnace comprising a casing having vertical side walls and a closedbottom wall, a heating unit in said casing including a combustionchamber spaced from the bottom wall of said casing. a burner in saidcombustion chamber, a combustion air inlet opening in said casinglocated a substantial distance above the level of said burner, an airinlet conduit communicating at one end with said opening and extendingdownwardly within the casing and beneath the combustion chamber andcommunicating at its opposite end with the combustion chamber inproximity to said burner, said casing being sealed below said airinlet'opening to preclude the en-' trance of water thereinto, means forretarding the flow of combustion gases through said heating unit, astack flue, and means for establishing communication between saidcombustion chamber and said stack flue.

3 A furnace comprising a casing including an upright side wall and abottom wall, a heating unit in said casing having a combustion chambercomprising an upright wall and a top wall,

the lower end of said combustion chamber being spaced irom the bottomwall of said casing, a

burner in said combustion chamber, a jacket in said casing surroundingsaid heating unit and dividing the space between said casing and saidheight substantially above the level of said burn-.

er, an air conduit havingan upright portion between said casing and saidjacket for conducting air from said air inlet opening to said combustionchamber, said casing being sealed below said air inlet opening topreclude the entrance of water thereinto. v

' BENJAMIN F. STEPHENS.

